


A Different Definition of Romance

by LadyMerlin



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: AO3 1 Million, Community: avland, Everyone is Adorkable, Fluff, Humour, M/M, Mission 6 - Challenge 8 - Two Is Better Than One (Sometimes), None More So Than Tony & Bruce, Romance, Science Husbands, Scientists are Stereotypically Clueless, Sorry Not Sorry, Tony & Bruce are in Love, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Valentine's Day 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-12 21:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1201627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMerlin/pseuds/LadyMerlin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Bruce are in Love. Tony and Bruce are also mostly clueless. It's a good thing they've got a different definition of romance to most couples.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Different Definition of Romance

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Avland's Mission 6 - [Challenge 8](http://avland.livejournal.com/44328.html). It got a little bit longer than I'd expected. Story of my life. My assigned characters: Tony Stark & Bruce Banner.
> 
> Kudos to CaitlinFairchild for the Ameri-Pick! :D Thanks bb!

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Tony.”

Tony startled and looked up from his tablet. “What? Already?” he asked, incredulous. He was sure it had only been a week since they’d only put up the Christmas tree in the lobby, only for it to be taken down by some jerk whose girlfriend had dumped him before he could take her to meet his parents. He’d have dumped the guy too, if it had been his decision. He’d definitely been giving off crazy-signals.

Bruce smiled at him in greeting. His hair was a disaster and it just made Tony want to ruffle it more – Bruce had amazing curls. One of these days he was going to figure out the exact chemistry of Bruce’s hair, because how did it even _work_? “Yes, already. When’s the last time you ate?” he asked and dropped down into a low sofa with an _oof_. Dummy immediately wheeled over to him and offered him a plastic cup filled to the brim with an unidentified pink substance.

Bruce stroked Dummy’s chassis absently, accepted the smoothie and casually didn’t drink it. He knew better after the last bout of food poisoning. Tony grinned at him in response. Very few people had reacted to his bots with as much ease as Bruce Banner. For all his claims of being unstable and dangerous, he’d responded very well to having been set on fire by Dummy, that one time, amongst other things.

“Had a smoothie,” Tony answered, and looked back at his tablet before he started cooing at how Dummy was trying to cuddle with Bruce.

“No, you didn’t,” Bruce replied without even looking up at him. Dummy delicately put his mechanical claw on Bruce’s face with incredible precision. Bruce didn’t even tense. Tony _loved_ him so much he couldn’t _breathe_.

“How do you know,” he said, a statement to be contrary more than a question. Because that was his middle name. Anthony Edward Contrary Asshole Stark. He needed a good acronym for that. He dragged some SHIELD stuff all the way to the bottom of his to-do list. Fury was being more of a dick than usual.

“Because Dummy told me,” Bruce replied, still completely unconcerned that the said two tonne robotic claw was booping his nose.

Tony scoffed. Not because Dummy couldn’t have told him, or anything. Dummy was perfectly capable of getting his point across, when he wanted to, thanks very much. He scoffed because Dummy was a little traitor. He had no doubt Jarvis had been teaching the punk to tattle to Bruce, because Tony could never say no to Bruce.

“Should we get takeout?” Bruce asked, instead of continuing the same line of questioning, still relaxed and boneless on the couch. He dropped his battered glasses on the small coffee table along with the untouched smoothie, and rubbed his free hand through his hair. Dummy moved away from his face and started exploring Bruce’s hair; he was _definitely_ Tony’s kid.

Tony dropped his tablet on the counter carelessly and got to his feet. It only took a step or two to reach Bruce, and to shoo Dummy away; he needed a charge and was only procrastinating. He stood in front of Bruce, who met his gaze even though Tony’s crotch was at eye level. He was a better man than Tony, but Tony had known that. He got on his knees on the sofa, suppressing a wince when his bones cricked, and straddled Bruce’s thighs.

Bruce didn’t break eye contact a single time, but steadied Tony’s body with warm, careful hands on his hips. Tony shuffled closer, so Bruce would have an excuse to touch where Tony wanted to be touched. He was too gentlemanly for his own good. “Not hungry for food, Bruce,” he said, and leaned in to kiss him. Bruce had told him that he never needed to ask permission for kissing. Kissing was free, whenever he chose. Tony had pretended like he’d expected that, but he really hadn’t. It was unprecedented.

It was strange, he thought, peripherally, how kisses with Bruce were so completely different from kisses with anyone else. How with other people, he always had to give a little more, to make it a little hotter, because the flame was quick to fizzle out. With Bruce, simple kisses, soft and quiet and sincere, were enough to set Tony’s insides on _fire_. Bruce was never demanding or forceful or rough, and still he left Tony aching for more, leaning into ever touch. Bruce was _amazing_.

Bruce leaned back on the stupidly low couch (he needed to get a new one) and Tony leaned over him and pressed as much of himself against Bruce’s body as he possibly could, deepening the kiss. He slid his fingers into Bruce’s hair to support his head, but also to score heavy lines along Bruce’s scalp. Bruce moaned his pleasure at the touch into the kiss, and Tony smiled as much as he could without breaking their lip-lock.

He could feel Bruce’s heart beating through the skin and clothes between them. He could feel it fluttering under his thumb, pressed against the base of Bruce’s neck. He knew his own pulse was racing to match it. He ground his hips against Bruce’s, experimentally.

Bruce huffed, broke the kiss and slapped Tony’s thigh. “We’re in the lab, Tony. No sex in the lab, remember?” he asked and dragged his lips along Tony’s bearded jawline before biting his chin playfully.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Tony sighed in mock exasperation, “the kids will see us,” he droned as if reciting a lesson from memory, and leaned in again. But this time, he wrapped his arms around Bruce and just hugged him. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn’t a sex machine. Oh, he certainly enjoyed sex, but he was only human. Sometimes he got tired too, and Bruce was the only one whom he hadn’t minded being around when all he wanted to do was sleep. And Bruce was an _incredible_ cuddler.

He kissed Tony’s shoulder through his thin shirt and hugged back, no questions asked. They sat there in silence for a while, Bruce stroking his back, until his stomach rumbled.

“Come on,” Tony said, and jumped up. He smiled at Bruce, who hadn’t so much as startled at his sudden movement. “I’ve just thought of this place you’ll like. They do a killer Thai Curry. You’ll _love_ it.”

Bruce beamed back at him and got up from the sofa. Dummy whined pathetically from his corner, and Bruce walked over to pat him, while shrugging on his familiar, shabby coat (he didn’t like it when Tony bought him new clothes without asking him – apparently Tony always got stuff a size too small). “You’re going to spoil the kids, you know,” Tony said, because it was true. Because he’d always wanted to be able to say that to someone, about his kids. Dummy _adored_ Bruce. Definitely their kid.

“Oh, yes,” Bruce said, still flushed and more-tousled-than-usual from the kissing. “ _I’m_ going to spoil the kids, even though I’m not the one who insists on upgrading them every weekend, or bringing them with me every time I have a business trip to Japan.”

Tony made a melodramatically outraged face to make Bruce laugh, and swivelled around as if to storm out of the workshop. He walked right into Pepper and for a moment everything was papers in the air and tablets clattering to the ground and apologies from both sides. Dummy was half way across the room to ‘help’, when Tony whirled around and told him to _freeze_ before he could make an even bigger mess.

“Where are you going?” she asked, amused, when all the papers had finally been put back in order and all her stuff had been rescued from the Roombas which had cheerfully congregated over the chaos on the floor.

“It’s Valentine’s day, Pep! I’m taking Bruce out for Thai food!” Tony beamed at her and Bruce flushed at the Tony-esque declaration of love. Tony wouldn’t take anyone out for dinner of his own volition, whom he didn’t love, and everyone in the room knew that.

The smile slid off Pepper’s face, to be replaced by a look of incredulity. Bruce froze, and Tony _hated_ that because Bruce was so sure Pepper secretly hated him for ‘stealing her man’, even though none of them had been in high school for _years_. Bruce said it was because he didn’t know how anyone could give Tony up, but that couldn’t possibly have been true, because Tony was sure he’d have given himself up, before Bruce.

He’d promised Bruce that Pepper was not going to ‘realise her mistake’ at some point, because she hadn’t made one, but Bruce remained worried that he’d crossed some unspoken boundaries or something. Tony reached over to him and gripped his hand, behind his back, because he was _not_ going to abandon his lover at the drop of a hat, and he was almost offended at the insinuation.

“What?” he asked, after a beat.

“Guys, Valentine’s day was three days ago,” Pepper said, incredulous look turning amused, suddenly. She giggled, presumably at the looks on their faces.

Tony gaped. “You told me it was today!” he accused Bruce, turning on him. There was a twitch in the corner of his lips that gave away how he was actually laughing, inside.

Bruce gaped back. He liked being over dramatic with Tony. It was fun. “I thought it was today!” he exclaimed, and threw up his free hand in the air to make his point. “You didn’t even remember!”

Tony opened his mouth with a no-doubt witty rejoinder, but Pepper spoke first, her look fond. “You two deserve each other.”

Then Tony grinned and Bruce fidgeted with his glasses and tried to not smile, but neither of them let go of the other’s hand. “Yeah,” Bruce said finally. “Yeah, we do.” 


End file.
